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Two men wrestling outside a castle. Wrestling played an important part in military training. (In situ, Avio castle; author’s photograph)

lite Florentine chroriicler Giovanni Yillani; ‘the lordly pride of the Primo Popolo and our ancestors was inspired by the pomp of the carroccio and the mnrinella'. Many cities had such a carroccio ceremoniał wagon as a focus of civic identity. In Siena, for example, cavalry swore allegiance to the communal banner while infantry militia swore upon the carroccio. Tension between various quarters within a city and between economic classes or rival families frequently resnlted in yiolence, but communal solidarity and obedience to elected representathes remained strong.

While codes of chivalry put sonie brake on the horrors of war elsewhere in Europę, Italian militias often had little respect for them: non-noble troops were usually outside the protection offered by such codes. Knights were happy to slaughter the militia, so they were happy to slaughter knights, except when the latter generated handsome ransoms. Outside the Southern kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, the remnants of chivalry gradually wi the red away. Howeyer, it is interesting to notę how in 14th-century Sicily a peculiar parody of chiralry emerged, where leaders of the comitwo armed gangs used pomp and almost heraldic dress to threaten and impress riyals, and to attract recruits.

Unit solidarity within the militias was based upon other real or imagined traditions. Genoese crossbowmen, for example, formed a Corporation whose traditions governed behaviour, professional standards and muttial support. The identity provided by banners and military musie also sened to reinforce the sense of cohesion within each unit. Italian heraldry often disregarded the rules as understood north of the Alps, and had its own way of doing things. For example, the city militias often tried to restrict the colours used on their flags to those appearing on the city’s banner. Colour could also be manipulated for political ends. The red and white arms of the Primo Popolo republican government in Florence were a symbolic imersion of the white and red used by the previous regime: a white lily on a red background became a red lily on a white background. One unit of troops defending the Florentine carroccio had a smali red cross on a white background while the second unit used this colour scheme reversed. Florentine militia crossbowmen also had two flags, each marked with a crossbow but with the colours reversed. Comparable flags for the pavesari and the handbow' archers also followed this practice. The near uniform armament and colour scheme of militia units also had a big impact on battlefield morale.

The quarters of a city could have entirely separate coats-of-arms unrelated to that of the city itself. Guild banners often portrayed something to do with that guild’s craft or business. A separate system of militia flags might have a deep-rooted explanation from the past: for